An illegal immigrant who lost
four children and his wife in last week's fire in the Bronx learned
yesterday that he would be allowed to travel to and from his West African
homeland to bury his family, ending a period of uncertainty amid his
grief.

The immigrant, Mamadou Soumare,
48, a cabdriver, was scheduled to visit a federal immigration office
at 10 a.m. today and receive formal permission to travel to Mali and
return to New York, officials said. In the aftermath of the fire, one
of the deadliest in recent New York history, his relatives, city leaders
and a lawyer had been trying to fulfill his wish of burying his family
in Mali.

Mr. Soumare first heard the
news late yesterday while sitting in the Manhattan offices of the lawyer,
Michael Wildes, who has been working on the case pro bono. “He was elated,”
Mr. Wildes said. “His religious liturgy plays a strong role in his life.
It's important that he lay his family to rest as quickly as possible.”

Though Mr. Soumare did not
have a green card, he had previously applied for political asylum, officials
said. Elected officials had been trying to resolve his problem, including
Senator Charles E. Schumer; José E. Serrano, the Bronx congressman;
and Adolfo Carrión Jr., the Bronx borough president.

Mr. Schumer and Mr. Serrano
had lobbied the New York branch of the United States Citizenship and
Immigration Services to grant Mr. Soumare a type of temporary travel
permission known as advance parole. Advance parole is typically issued
by the citizenship office to those with pending immigration applications,
including asylum applications, and allows them to re-enter the United
States after traveling aboard.

Shawn Saucier, a spokesman
for Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency was prepared
to issue Mr. Soumare an advance parole after his appointment today at
the agency's office at Federal Plaza in Manhattan.

It remained unclear when Mr.
Soumare would leave for Africa. The director of the funeral home, Francisco's
Funeraria, said yesterday that the earliest the bodies could be sent
was tomorrow, because of the many arrangements that would need to be
coordinated to fly the bodies. In the meantime, the bodies lay in a
refrigerated room, in wooden boxes lined with zinc and stainless steel.

Sheikh Moussa Drammeh, a family
spokesman and the principal of the Islamic Leadership School in the
Bronx, said Mr. Soumare would probably leave sometime Friday. Mr. Drammeh
said he had been confident that Mr. Soumare would receive the permission
he needed.

“In the past, America and the
State Department and immigration has not shown insensitivity in cases
like this, of humanitarian assistance, so we were very hopeful things
would work out,” he said.

Mr. Schumer and Mr. Serrano
each took credit in separate news releases for securing the authorization
for Mr. Soumare's travels. Mr. Schumer said he worked with immigration
officials to reopen Mr. Soumare's asylum case from 1992, and Mr. Wildes
thanked Mr. Schumer for his help. Mr. Serrano sent the death certificates
on Monday to immigration officials, along with a letter requesting advance
parole.

“There's no joy in this,” Mr.
Serrano said. “The guy's going home to bury his children.”

Advance parole is issued in
lieu of a visa, but it does not provide a path to permanent residency.
Mr. Wildes, who is also the mayor of Englewood, N.J., said he would
help secure his client's permanent status while Mr. Soumare was in Africa.

Four of Mr. Soumare's children
died as a result of the fire. His three other children live in Mali.
Mr. Wildes said Mr. Soumare was grateful for the emotional and financial
support and assistance his family and the Magassas, who lost five children
in the fire, have received.